Interconnect advice

[Raffa]

Folks,

I am in the market for a new RCA interconnect. I'll be upgrading from a 1st generation Nordost Blue Heaven, and under consideration are Van Den Hul the 1st, the Wave and the QED signature 40.

I am also thinking that there has probably been some significant improvements in more budget friendly cables since I bought the Nordost BH's nearly 15 years ago, so very much open to suggestions.

Cheers

[Ivor]

Recommending cables,or any other piece of hifi, is dangerous. Without knowing your system or more importantly your taste it's just shooting in the dark. Try as many cables as you can, any good retailer should be able to loan you some. Cloney and The Listening Suite come to mind. I have Van Den Hul and a few others lying around if you want to borrow them (I'm in south Dublin).

[Diapason]

I agree with Ivor, cables are definitely a "suck it and see" kinda thing. That said, what areas of the Blue Heavens are you hoping to improve, and at what sort of budget?

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Raffa]

Ivor, good point. Amp- Copland CSA 8, CD Player- Meridian G07, System Audio Aura 50 speakers, Nordost BH Power Leads, QED XT40 cables. I favour a lean tight sound which comes in spades from the kit I have, I just think there is more detail and air in my recordings left to be revealed.

I know the guys in Cloney well, so am going to borrow the VDH and a new BH to listen to. I've teaked as much as I can otherwise i.e. silver spades, passive RF/EF filters in the power block, passive filters dotted around the house etc. I suspect we have terribly dirty power as each power tweak has had a very noticeable effect.

Last cable upgrade I tested was White Lightening speaker cables which actually didnt improve on the QED's at all, especially when you consider the cost.

So- Diapason, my budget could be convinced to go to €300 and I'm looking for as much detail as I can squeeze out of a recording while retaining a lean sound. Thanks for the welcome BTW.

[Diapason]

Hmmm, as a fellow poor power sufferer, I know the struggle. A left field suggestion perhaps, but I'll have a Power Inspired AG1500 on the market soon if a change of interconnect doesn't offer what you want... Sorry, cheeky of me!

Anyway, good luck with the search.

[Ivor]

If you want to try the cables I have here you might be surprised. They go from soft to very detailed. No pressure, they're just sitting here!
PM me of you want.

I found a separate ring (or is it a spur?) from the main fuse box to your hifi sockets to be pretty effective. But I can't claim the mains is dirty here anyway.. I'm just rambling!

And yes, a belated welcome from me too.

[Georgi]

If I can suggest, try speaker cables from Furutech.
I did try some different cables, some expensive, some not so, but at the end I found that Furutech give me what I'm looking for.
My one is Furutech μ-2T + connectors FP-202 G.

The same goes for RCA and power cables. All of them I change with Furutech.

I'm not saying that they are the best, what I'm saying is, they give you a lot more for the price, compared to some other expensive cables.

[Raffa]

Hmmm, as a fellow poor power sufferer, I know the struggle. A left field suggestion perhaps, but I'll have a Power Inspired AG1500 on the market soon if a change of interconnect doesn't offer what you want... Sorry, cheeky of me!

Anyway, good luck with the search.

I actually wouldn't put a UPS on the system- I've been told they sterilise the sound too much. Russ Andrews do some nice kit to tame spikes, surges and transient and I am adding a surge/transient protector to the mains at the fuse board to help too. If you happen to have a Nordost Thor for around €300 i'll chew your arm off for it!

Cheers Giorgi. That's the first Furutech review of sorts I have come across.

[Diapason]

Yeah, power related tweaks are pretty variable, although I found the regenerator gave more rather than taking away in my case. My CDP sounds flatter without it, it added colour and space. But it did better with sources than with amps.

Anyway, if I come across a cut price Thor I'll let you know!

[Raffa]

So, having checked out the VDH 1st Shielded, the 1st Ultimate MKII, and a few custom leads courtesy of Ivor, I have decided to go back to the BH's and am on the lookout for a BH Lief Interconnect if anyone has one. I've heard the new series out performs the 1st generation by a wide mile.

I had heard that the VDH's can be dull, but they were actually really bright in my system. Both the VDH shielded and ultimate MKII gave great sound stage and slam, but the BH's won me back over with sheer detail, greater bass (again odd for Nordost), bigger stage than it's competitors and more all round liveliness. It also has, well, just a more "delicate" presentation than the VDH's. Now, I must just go and return the loan kit back to Ivor before he thinks I've pawned them or something...

Just goes to show that sometimes when you plug in a new cable, it's sheer difference can sometimes wow you so much you forget what you loved about your setup. I wonder how many go back to their original kit after testing something new?